Silkily
by epiphanies
Summary: She was ravishing. That unforgettable pang in his chest that she alone gave him returned as if they hadn’t even been apart for an hour, let alone sixteen years.
1. Default Chapter

Severus Snape could not tear his eyes away - even for one moment. He simply could not believe it...could his eyes be deceiving him? For, two seats away from his in the Great Hall, on the first of September, sat a woman. Not a young woman, not an old woman...not a beautiful nor ugly woman - but she was ravishing all the same. And that unforgettable pang in his chest that she alone gave him returned as if they hadn't even been apart for an hour, let alone sixteen years.

He stared at her all throughout the sorting ceremony and the clinking of the glasses - only did he look up when he heard her name spoken in confirmation.

"...and welcome our new Professor Candlehard and her daughter, Slyvie."

Severus stared at the headmaster, then flickered his glance back to the woman. She had a daughter? Old enough to be at Hogwarts? Who...was she...had she gotten married?

He quickly scanned the room, looking for new female faces. Just as he was about to give up, he saw her. Small, sharp nose. Deep set green eyes. Full, red lips. Elegant, protruding cheekbones. Snowy white skin. Long, straight black hair.

She sat at the Gryffindor table, next to one of the Weasley's - he couldn't tell which - and she looked quite old in a young kind of way - or quite young in an old kind of way. Her face was young and fresh, she was probably about fourth or fifth year. But...her green eyes looked mature and aged..wearier than many other teenagers' eyes that he had seen. 

He had been too busy staring at Sylvie that he hadn't noticed that somebody was staring at him now - the woman he hadn't spoken to in nearly sixteen long years, Professor Candlehard. He caught her eye, and they held a shocked gaze for a moment before she looked back at Dumbledore and struck up a quiet conversation.

Severus returned to staring at the child - the teenager - with the eyes like her mother, the hair like-

No, not her mother. Actually, the hair more resembled his own. 

But how? No, he would have known. Wouldn't he?

Or was it true that for sixteen, fifteen or so years he had been a father without knowing it? A father who left the mother to raise her child alone?

If I am her father, Severus realized, still trying to fathom the shock, I've been a treacherous one. Sylvie...Sylvie - if she's my daughter, she's grown up without a father. 

Just at that moment, she looked at him. He nearly fell over with shock by the look she gave him. It was of interest...and suspicion. He trembled slightly and looked away.

Could it be possible?

Just as the students began filing out of the Great Hall to their dormitories, Severus caught Professor Candlehard's arm.

She stopped slowly and looked up at him.

"Severus," she said in a quiet greeting.

"Maureen," he bit his lip and removed his hand from her arm.

"I suppose that you want to talk," she crossed her petite arms. How skinny and pale she had gotten...

"Yes, well...do you?" he asked, and she nodded uncertainly.

"The teacher's lounge usually takes vacancy this late," he suggested. And so they walked, in silence, to the teacher's lounge.

  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  
  


"So, Sylvie, what do your parents do?" asked Parvati as the fifth year girls changed into their nightdresses.

Sylvie looked at Hermione - who she'd already felt a kindredness with - and smiled.

"My mother's a teacher."

"Is she? Where?" Parvati raised her eyebrows in interest. Hermione snorted, "Here, Parvati. Her mother works here. Remember? New Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"Oh, right!" Parvati said airily, and even Lavender got in a giggle.

"What about your dad?" Lavender brought out a bottle of nail paint.

Sylvie hesitated, "Um...I actually don't know."

"Oh, I get it. He's an Untouchable, then."

Sylvie bit her lip. She'd let the girls think what they wanted. After all, she couldn't say he wasn't. She didn't know *what* he was.

  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  
  


"So, when you left for London, I decided to go home for a vacation. See my parents, visit Laurie and such things. During my stay, I was rather sick a large amount of the time. Spells, muggle pills, nothing would stop the pain. So, I went to my sister's doctor and they ran a number of different tests...only one came out positive."

Severus looked at his hands, "Were you...did you get involved with-"

"There wasn't anybody but you, Sev." she looked at her delicate hands, and Severus followed her gaze. He gasped. She was still wearing the diamond ring that he had given her so long ago.

"You still wear it." he looked at her sadly.

She nodded, "After I came back, I checked with Dumbledore and he told me you were in deep undercover. That he was sad to say if you didn't lose your life or memory, you would come out of it scarred...different. Like a war vet."

Severus looked away, "I was...rather..depressed. No more than usual, I suppose...But it, you leaving...only dug me in deeper. I don't believe I've ever been the same since I came back and Dumbledore informed me of your departure. I don't believe I've ever gotten over it."

"I'm sorry, Severus," Maureen spoke in sincere stillness, "I believe I may have gotten over it - gotten over you - if not for Sylvie. She reminded me of you every day. And every day up until she turned ten years old, I believed that somehow, you would find me, find us, and show up on the doorstep with flowers and apologies and we could be together. You and I...and our daughter. A family."

Severus took her hand gently, not caring that the burning fire place allowed her to see his gleaming eyes, "Is it not too late? Maur, is it not too late? We could still be a family, you and I and Sylvie -"

"Severus," she stopped him, looking pained, "Do you want to know why I lost hope?"

Severus could only nod. Surely he would be able to change her mind.

Maureen took her hand away from his and wrung her own together, "When Sylvie turned ten..."

  
  


*...Five years previous...*

  
  


It was a beautiful, sunny day. Sylvie awoke not realizing the date, but knowing that it was special nonetheless. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. Even though her mother was a single parent, she had a good job and they lived pretty well. She could smell bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen, and only when she saw the neatly wrapped gifts in the living room chair did she remember why the day was special.

"Guess who's ten today!" she sang out as she bounced into the kitchen. She was smiling until she saw her mother sitting at the table, staring out the front window.

All of a sudden, Slylvie felt hot all over and her head began to pound. She was furious!

She watched more as her mother distractedly stared out the window, still taking no notice of the pj donning double digit birthday girl.

"He's never going to come," Sylvie said in a voice just above a whisper, her voice as cold as she could get it.

Her mother turned and stared at her, a look of great sadness occupying her usually cheerful face. 

Sylvie instantly regretted her unkind words. Not because they weren't true, for she believed that her father indeed would never return, but because of the pain that he caused that still dwindled in her mother's kind and generous heart. Sylvie had meant to strike a nerve, and she had achieved her goal. But, she felt sorry for the terrible sadness that she had just brought upon her mother. She rushed forward and grabbed her in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry, Mommy." she whispered into her mother's soft hair.

"I'm sorry he's never been here for you," her mother squeezed her tighter, "Happy Birthday, sweetheart."

  
  
  
  


*...Present...*

  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  
  


Sylvie awoke with a tear dropping down her cheek. How many nights had this memory come to her she did not know, but it was one too many. She still had a history of blurting out bitter things to her mother that she regretted, but that memory was one that she didn't take kindly to visiting in her dreams. She was probably having due to the new atmosphere, or the fact that her fifteenth birthday was only one week away. She pushed the thought away and tried to drift back to sleep.

  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  
  


"So that was when you lost hope for me?" Severus stated, and Maureen nodded.

Severus looked at his hands, "Dumbledore told me when I'd gotten back to come find you. That a simple locator spell would do the trick."

"But you didn't." she said quietly. Although it had been said as a statement, there was a million questions hidden behind it.

"I didn't...because I thought you'd be snatched up. You're an appealing woman, surely you wouldn't wait around for me, for years and years? It had been five years when I finally finished my mission, and I though... anything. That you'd be married...or different...that you'd hate me."

"Hate you! You were just doing your job, Sev! I couldn't hate you for that."

"But that's how my mind worked when I finished, Maur, you can't understand..."

"I can't understand, Severus? Me, probably the one person in the world that understands you most? I had to find out I was pregnant. Alone. I had to find Dumbledore. Alone. I had to grieve for you. Alone. I had to go through labour. Alone. I had to go through diapers, and schooling, and raising a child. Alone. All that, alone, and you think you were depressed, Severus? I didn't even know that you were alive!"

Severus stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. "Maur," he said softly, touching her hand. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"You ask if its too late," she says, "I don't know, Severus. Its not my decision. Its up to you..."

"You know what I-"

"...and your daughter."

Severus was the kind of man who wasn't surprised easily, but Maureen could see a green tint touch his face. 

"When can I...how should I...do I have to tell her? Does she hate me? Do you think that she could ever accept me, or love me, Maur?" he said very fast, desperate.

She looked pained, and shrugged her shoulders, "This is up to you, Severus. I'll have nothing to do with telling her. She's your daughter too."

He sighed. "Do you suggest anything? When? Where? How? Should I buy her presents? Can she tell people? I'm respected in this school, and if the students find out..."

"You've actually managed to sleep with somebody, they'll respect you even more." her green eyes twinkled and he had to chuckle.

"I'll ask her to my office after class tomorrow, last class of the day. By the way...how did a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw spout out a little Gryffindor?"

She bit her lip, "Well, I suppose that any girl that grows up without a father is more brave than most people."

Severus sighed. "I'll talk to her tomorrow."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter Two

Silkily: Chapter Two

By: Emma

Disclaimer: I own Maureen and Sylvie and this outta character Severus. This story was started about two years ago, I just feel like writing about something that isn't Sirius-related.

  
  
  
  


Snape was getting very annoyed. Why was it that every time a new girl showed up at Hogwarts, she would steal the attention of every boy in the room? He'd already taken ten points off Gryffindor for Seamus Finnigan touching Sylvie's straight long hair. Actually, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were shooting Snape grateful looks. His eyes narrowed as Harry Potter's eyes turned her way and said something that brought smiles to both of their lips. Then Ron Weasley showed up behind Harry and cracked another quiet joke. 

THEN Draco Malfoy started to eye Sylvie as she and the Wonder-twins talked her up. This was getting to be a bit too MUCH!

"Enough!" he bellowed, and the only noise left was the giggles of his daughter. 

No special treatment, Sev, he reminded himself.

"Miss Candlehard," he tried to say with an icy undertone that melted nearly instantly, "what is it that you find so amusing?"

Her green eyes (identical to her mother's) swept over his face in appraisal, "Well, sir," she began, looking straight into his eyes, "Harry was just telling me a story about a teacher turning a boy into a bouncing ferret."

The Gryffindors roared with laughter, and Draco Malfoy flushed with anger.

"And you found that amusing?"

"Quite, sir. Amusing, imagery created. In my head. It sounded like a grand old time," she paused to look directly at Draco, "I guess the saying is true. Blondes DO have more fun."

Even some of the Slytherins snickered at this, and Severus felt a twinge of pride that he pushed away immediately. He couldn't really believe it. Sylvie? A troublemaker?

"Well, there is no special treatment for new students, I am afraid. Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Candlehard, for the disruption of my classroom."

"Mr Snape-"

"Professor Snape, Miss Candlehard."

"Professor, that isn't fair." she set her mouth on a determined line as his eyebrows nearly reached his hairline.

"Shall I dare to ask...why not?" he said silkily, gaining his spine back.

Family feuds were what she wanted? At least he would have an excuse for calling her to his office after class.

"Because I'm sorry for disrupting the class, sir."

WHAT? This girl...more confusing than her mother...

"Well, I admire your need to express that, Miss Candlehard. However, apologies don't earn you lost points. Just think before you act next time."

She rolled her eyes.

"And Sylvie?"

"Yes, sir?"

"My office. After class."

  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  
  


Snape sighed as he sat behind his oak desk, "Have a seat."

Sylvie sat.

"I need to ask you a few questions, Sylvie."

"Like what, Severus?"

He was taken aback, and before he could respond she continued, "Severus is your first name. If you can call me mine, I can call you yours."

"Not in my class, I'm afraid. Against school policy."

"Oh," she paused, then raised her eyebrows, "So, you want me to call you Daddy during class instead? Oh, no. You don't suit Daddy. Or even, Dad. I think you could pass as a Father, though."

Severus mouthed like a goldfish. He could not speak.

"My Mum didn't tell me, in case you wondered," she kept going, looking at him in dislike, "You saw her and went goldfishy at dinner yesterday. Then you two kept looking at each other and at me and walked off together. Then I saw you watching me in class earlier...I'm not stupid. Mother doesn't have my nose, my skin or my hair. But wow! You do! So, has she forgiven you for leaving us? Do you want to be all father-daughter even though the first fifteen years of my life I'd never seen your picture or known your name? Did *she* put you up to this?"

"She wanted me to tell you, yes." he admitted finally, "but I wanted to speak to you. How much do you...know? About me?"

She blinked, "You went with my mother. Then you left to work. Never came back."

"That's all you know? Look, let me tell you...that's not how it was. You know about Voldemort, right?"

"Duh."

"Ok. I went on a mission against him while I was engaged to your mother. But it ended up taking five years. Not five weeks, like we'd hoped. When your mother talked to Dumbledore, he said that I may not even be alive and if I was, I'd hardly be the same man. Your mother...found herself pregnant while I was gone. When I returned, you would have been about four. But I didn't know about you. I just figured that your mother would have moved on. She didn't even know I was alive until last night, at the feast. I know that I can't make up for the past fifteen years, but I want to try and get to know you. You're my daughter by blood even though we've never even spoken before now, and I didn't get to hear your first word, see you take your first step, get the chickenpox-"

"Dad," she stopped and managed a weak smile, "I haven't had the chickenpox yet."

"Really? Aren't you a little old?"

"Aren't I little old for meeting my father for the first time?"

"Touche. I wish that I could say I missed you...if I'd known about you, I would have missed you very much."

Sylvie looked at her hands, "I missed you. But mostly I hated you. You hurt my mother."

"I know...I missed her...incredibly. Not a day went by...Sylvie, I loved your mom so very much."

"Do you still?" 

He smiled, "Of course. You should be getting to your homework, should you not?"

"Yeah...hey, do I get a detention?"

"Not this time. Next time, though, you polish everything in the trophy room. Thrice."

She smiled, "Yes, sir."


End file.
